July 29, 2013

Bonjour à tous

So yesterday we were out contacting. When i very first left the appartment I had this distinct impression that there was someone specific that we were supposed to find. Our goal for the day was to get 100 people contacted. Towards the evening we still needed about 40 more to reach that goal. "We got this no problem" is what we were thinking when all of the sudden out of nowhere it starts pouring rain. With no umberellas and very few people left on the street we continued on. People looked at us like we were crazy as we approached them dripping wet and asked them if they wanted to learn more about the Saviour. We had been rejected by literally everyone and en plus I had a contact where the people couldn't understand my french, one of the most frustrating things of my mission. We still had 20 people left to reach our goal and about 40 minutes left in the day. But i knew that there was still someone out there waiting for us so we decided to continue. I knew that the adversary was sending all of this opposition for a reason so i was determined to keep going until time was up. Then finnaly after about 89 rejections we found him. The guy who Christ had been directing us to that day. We talked with him for a good 30 minutes, testified of the Saviour, shared the first vision, and talked about finding strength in trials. At the end we gave him a dedicated book of mormon that a member had given us earlier at church. As we parted ways smiling and filled with the love of Christ I offered a prayer of thanks in my heart. 

I know that if we continue to work even when we are bombarded by opposition that we will see miracles. We easily could have given up and headed towards home but we stuck it out and were rewarded with a blessing after the trial of our faith. All of the bad weather and tired bodies and insults and mockings and abuse we see as servants of the Lord are worth it when we find that lost sheep :) I love this work!

In life we face all kinds of crazy opposition. Though it might seem difficult at times we can perservere. As children of the most powerful being in the universe we all have a divine potential within. We can always choose to do what we know is right, we can always continue to work when everything else is working against us. If we continue moving forward with faith in Christ and an eye single to the work we will see miracles. God has promised us angels round about us to strengthen us. And we should always take confidence in the fact that our saviour Jesus Christ had enough faith in us that he was willing to take upon himself all manner suffering that we might be able to overcome the world as He did.

I love you. Your Father in Heaven loves you. We have confidence in you. Continue to perservere through those difficult moments and you will be blessed. Never give up. Never forget why you are here and never forget the amazing potential that you have as a child of God to do good.

Elder Swenson